Thursday, August 16, 2018

Willow Creek Protestant Megachurch Paid $3.25M in Lawsuits Over Sex Abuse of Disabled Boys

by Steve Ray on August 16, 2018

If you don’t like this post, or think I’m pointing fingers, then read below under the line of asterisks *******

By Stoyan Zaimov

“Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois reportedly paid $3.5 million in lawsuits over the sex abuse of two developmentally disabled boys.

The evangelical megachurch, which recently saw its entire elders board resign over unrelated accusations that former lead pastor Bill Hybels sexually abused women, made the payments in the lawsuits over several years, court records obtained by The Chicago Tribune show.

One payment of $1.75 million was apparently made into n February, while another one of $1.5 million was made last year.

Former Willow Creek volunteer Robert Sobczak Jr., now 24, pled guilty in 2014 of abusing an 8-year-old with special needs at the church, alongside an older boy not connected with the church. A year earlier, he admitted to sexually abusing another disabled boy at the church, believed to have been 9 years old.

Willow Creek said that the experience was “heartbreaking,” and insisted that it has made changes….”

For the whole article, click here.

**************************

Because several people misunderstood my reason for posting this thinking I was pointing fingers, I will explain why I posted it.

Catholics need to realize that this is not a Catholic-only issue. It is a human issue and actually worse in Protestant churches, among the rabbis and even worse in public schools.

I come from the Protestant world. I have every right to comment on it because I experienced it. I have a close relative who at 12 years old was sodomized by a married Baptist deacon. I could multiply the stories…

I am not in anyway pointing fingers but reporting the news and helping people understand the bigger picture. I don’t want Catholics to leave the Catholic Church to join a Protestant group thinking they’re going to solve the problem by doing that or that the problem is due to a celibate priesthood.

So if you don’t like my article, don’t read it. But for those who think it’s a Catholic-only problem, it may help them understand the bigger picture. I have lived in both worlds and I love being a Catholic.

{ 5 comments }

About Witholding Funds from the Church

by Steve Ray on August 16, 2018

There has been a lot of discussion about withholding funds from the Church as a way of speaking out against bishops who have not done their job and been bad shepherds, protecting bad shepherds. I have suggested it is something we should think about especially if we know of abusers or those who facilitate abusers.

The Catholic faithful are very frustrated because they have little or no control over the hierarchy. And when many in the hierarchy have done (and are doing) such a terrible job of managing the flock and protecting it I understand, like Ed Peters commented, that we want to find some way to act and to put an end to the nonsense. The question keeps arising, “What can we do?”

I personally will not withhold finances or support from my parish nor my bishop (and archbishop) because the priests I know locally I believe to be exceptional and my bishop as well. But if I had good reason to believe otherwise or if my bishop was Wuerl…

Canon Lawyer Ed Peters has written an excellent article discussing this topic, especially from a Canon Law perspective. I suggest you read it here.

{ 1 comment }